Socrates in Plato’s Phaedrus says that there are four essential qualities of a human life worth living. These are the prophetic, the mystical, the poetic and the erotic. Without these states of being, it is difficult to have the ‘furies’, or the energies that help you overcome any odds.
These qualities correspond to Greek gods in Apollo, Dionysus, the Muses, Aphrodite and Eros. The true appreciation of life combines all four passions of these divine beings.
Because it spreads passion, the four-fold vision cannot be controlled, and an inspired person is in constant tension with the republic of docile bodies.
See Thomas Taylor’s translation, The Phaedrus of Plato; a dialogue concerning Beauty and Love, 1792. This translation is one of the most important unknown books in English literature.
See Thomas Taylor’s translation, The Phaedrus of Plato; a dialogue concerning Beauty and Love, 1792. This translation is one of the most important unknown books in English literature.
